


And Now I Resign

by daddylonglegs, paribeans



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Crack Fic, M/M, apocalypse au, there were no paribeans fics on this website so i took it upon myself to contribute, this is supposed to be ironic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-02 08:08:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5240975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daddylonglegs/pseuds/daddylonglegs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/paribeans/pseuds/paribeans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"People long to love and be loved, apparently, that's called being happy. However, I feel happy when people hate me. I have this urge to hurt things I love, you know. It's not that weird, is it?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> this was a mistake

prologue

Beans ran down the sidewalk as fast as his short legs could take him, breathing heavily in his gas mask. Someone. Someone. There had to be someone still alive who could help Pariston. Beans turned a corner and slipped on the sleek pavement, which was wet with rain. The puddles were tinted with that uneasy color. The poisons in the air had condensed into rain, as if the environment weren’t bad enough before. Beans picked himself back up and kept running, despite the potential toxins that soaked his clothes.

No more than 3 blocks further, he gave up, and made his way back to the shelter. He ran even faster with the realization that Pariston could have passed while he was away. No, Pariston wouldn't give up so easily. He might have been a terrible and manipulative person to everyone before, but he's changed, Beans convinced himself as he ran. “He’s holding on for my sake. So I have to be there when he can’t hold on anymore,” He said out loud, between gasps of air.  
Beans would find a way to make Pariston live. Even if it meant sacrificing himself.


	2. chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "People long to love and be loved, apparently, that's called being happy. However, I feel happy when people hate me. I have this urge to hurt things I love, you know. It's not that weird, is it?"

Chapter 1  
As the camera turned on on Set 3, the studio was silent all except for Pariston Hill, the Zodiac News Network’s most prized and charming newsman. Beans watched Pariston’s daily report on a monitor in the break room. He admired Pariston’s smile that glittered like snow but looked as if it could make flowers grow. He loved the way Pariston’s smiles always looked genuine and convincing no matter how superficial he was being. Beans wished he could sit next to Pariston and report with him instead of covering the weather like he always did, and growing tired of his routine that seemed to never end.  
Most people who watched the Zodiac News Network only tuned in to watch Pariston. Everyone in the studio was always captivated by his reports and the charming smile he iced it with. And Beans was no exception. However, when he looked at Pariston’s charming appearance, he couldn’t help but think of all the things people said about Pariston being manipulative and abusive to his peers. Though Beans had never experienced this manipulation firsthand, it made him cautious and skeptical. His coworker Cheadle, who currently reported next to Pariston, had warned him more than once to be careful around the seemingly-charismatic celebrity. Nonetheless, Beans admired him.  
After the camera cut, Pariston stood up and walked into the break room. Beans put on a smile of his own and prepared himself to talk to the idol of the studio.   
“Hello, Pariston-san. Good job with the report this morning.”  
Pariston now wore a different kind of smile, still warm, but friendlier. Somehow it seemed more sincere, like a face he would wear when talking to his friends. But Beans remained skeptical in the back of his mind. “Good morning, Beans. Thank you, I know. Just the regular report though.” His face dimmed, and suddenly, but subtly, he wore a sinister look. “I wish someday there would be a real story. Something actually interesting.”  
Beans wasn’t sure what Pariston meant by that, and it made Beans’s sense of security flicker. He glanced at the time. “Oh, I have to go on for the weather report soon.”  
Pariston’s face lit up again. “Good luck! You’ll do great. You’re our best weatherman.” This comment startled Beans. He didn’t know how to respond. He’d just received a compliment from the face of the studio. “Thanks! I’m really not that special though.” Still smiling, Pariston turned to leave, and under his breath, he muttered “I hope we have a storm.” He walked out of the break room leaving Beans with that same conflicted feeling. Remembering Cheadle’s warnings, he wondered if Pariston’s friendliness was just a ploy to gain his trust and manipulate him.  
Beans sighed, thoughtful as he was called to the set. He reluctantly entered the studio where he would begin to report the weather, the familiar bright green of the screen behind him gave him a relieving, secure sense of familiarity. He dully read the words that appeared in front of him, forcing a superficial smile and warm tone into his voice, and before he knew it his broadcast was over.

Beans walked into the studio the next day, and the staff was in a huddle. He went over to the crowd and listened to the news that would be reported that day. His eyes widened in curiosity as he read there was predicted to be a meteor shower. “How romantic….” he thought, dreaming about watching the meteor shower with Pariston. He immediately pushed that thought away and tried to conceal his blushing face, with little success. Beans felt a familiar presence approach him, and he turned around when he heard that friendly and familiar light laugh. His heart sped up as Pariston’s sparkly complexion met his eyes, gorgeous brown eyes with a hint of shadowy intent met his, and Beans couldn’t help but gaze into them. He perked up when Pariston started to speak, snapping back to reality.  
“How wonderful! A meteor shower!” His eyes sparkled. “I was waiting for an occasion like this! The weather’s been awfully boring, hasn’t it Beans-san?”  
Beans only turned his head away and avoided meeting Pariston’s gaze, stomach full of incredulous butterflies. He tried to compose himself as much as he could before replying to the news man. “C-certainly!” He cursed himself for stuttering. “It’s been slow, with the weather staying the same.”  
Pariston hummed in reply, winking at Beans. “Would you like to come watch it with me?” He requested, a little playfulness in his voice. Beans, cautious in his mind but blushing his face, fidgeted with his hands, hoping the taller man wouldn’t notice his nervousness. He tried to mask his excitement and confusion and conflicting security. “O-of course!”  
Pariston smiled. “Ok then! How about we meet on the hill near the studio then?” The weatherman agreed.  
Beans hurried off to his broadcast grinning, adjusting his bowtie and praying that his complexion had evened out. He was going to watch the meteor shower with Pariston Hill! He only hoped Pariston was being genuine, and not manipulative.  
Later that night, Beans and Pariston headed back to the studio where some of their coworkers were reporting and broadcasting the meteor shower. They were both thankful that they both had time off, reporting during the meteor shower seemed hectic. They watched the shower peacefully before Pariston suggested they go somewhere else so they would be alone together. Beans felt captivated, and confused, and nervous all at once as Pariston took his tiny hand, leading him to a place they’d never been before. He lead him behind the studio to a hill with a spectacular view of the city, and the sky above them. The moonlight gave Pariston’s silky hair a milky color, the tips sparkling where the starshine hit it. Beans found himself distracted from the sky by Pariston’s beauty, his sparkly complexion more marvelous than the sky above them. Pariston leaned towards beans to whisper in his unseeable ears. “I want to hurt you.”


	3. chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Pariston backed away from Beans’s face, his blank and dark eyes, even shadier in the moonlight, seemed to drill a hole right through Beans’s head. Beans stood there in shock, suddenly remembering all the suspicion that filled him earlier. He didn’t know whether to be angry or terrified or ask what Pariston had said. He was confused. Did he hear him correctly? Should he run? Should he quit his job being the respectable weatherman for Zodiac News Network? He couldn’t move. Somewhere in the moment previous he had realized that he had something more than admiration for Pariston. Was it Beans himself that felt this way? Or did Pariston somehow mold these feelings in Beans on purpose? Beans wasn’t sure. His mind began to race. Pariston stood there smiling darkly at Beans. A cloud had moved in front of the moon.  
“It looks like the meteor shower is over. Let’s return to the studio, shall we?”   
Beans nodded, still not completely aware of what had just happened. Was Pariston actually going to hurt him? He followed behind Pariston back down the hill towards the ZNN building. The area was growing darker and lighter as clouds moved past the moon. Beans’s mind was racing and his hands began to shake. What was Pariston planning? He seemed so sincere when he asked Beans to watch the meteor shower with him.  
The nervous walk to the ZNN building seemed to take forever. Beans followed Pariston inside and was met by a frantic and somewhat overwhelming atmosphere. One of the supervisors in the studio walked swiftly over to update the two on the situation.  
“One of the meteors got caught in the atmosphere and will shortly land several miles outside a residential area not too far away. The meteorite seems small enough that it won’t create more than a temporary power outage in the neighborhood, but we’re considering evacuation.”  
The mood in the building was unsettling, but the supervisors gathered calmly to come to an agreement on whether or not the residents should be evacuated. Beans was just relieved to have something else to think about. Pariston was standing across the room talking to another staff member. He was smiling like always, but Beans felt uneasy to see that he still had a dark look on his face. He tried to distract himself with his job.  
“Anything I can do?” Beans asked the same supervisor. The man flipped through the papers on his clipboard and said, “This is, in a way, a weather-related issue, but I think more people will be interested if we have Hill report it.”  
Of course, Beans thought. He was neither surprised nor angry about this response. But now Pariston was back on his mind.   
The Network had sent a reporter to an area about ten miles from the predicted meteor crash site to give updates on the area and hopefully provide live footage of the crash. The residents were not to be evacuated but were to stay in their homes and prepare to have their power out for at least the rest of the night. Beans watched the story from one of the break rooms. A cheerful lady reporter he didn’t know the name of was talking about the meteor and its estimated time of crash: 11:00 pm. “Back to you, Mr. Hill.” Suddenly Pariston’s face appeared on the screen. he and the deployed reporter had a smiley conversation about the topical event.   
Everyone in the station was ecstatic, and Beans would be too if it weren’t for his paranoia. Okay, Beans thought, maybe I’ll just talk to him about it? Before being faced with Pariston’s threat, Beans really did feel there was something there between them. Beans was completely unaware of how much he admired- no.. more than admired- Pariston until this night. And it seemed like Pariston was returning those feelings until he expressed his desire to do the opposite of show affection for Beans. Beans’ mind raced.  
At around 11:05 pm, the camera at the scene captured a streak of light pierce the horizon. A minute later, the visible lights in the neighborhood near the crashed went out. The story picked up. There was more than the usual audience tuned in to watch the crash. Beans was still rolling the night around in his head. Somewhere deep within himself, he found the courage to talk to Pariston. He walked out of the break room and stood in the back of the studio, watching Pariston talk to a locally famous meteorologist about the crash. The story went on for another half hour, but Beans built up his courage up until the end. Pariston stood up and Beans walked over to him. His heart started to race and his hand shook. He took a deep breath.  
“Paristo-” 

BAM

Before he could get his attention someone came bursting through the door. Pariston drew his attention to the new arrival immediately, but Beans hadn’t turned to look until he heard his voice. “Listen up, everyone!” He announced. Beans knew the familiar but much-missed voice instantly. He turned to look. His old co-worker and friend Ging stood in the middle of the room. Beans felt himself smile a little. He hadn’t seen head or tail of Ging in almost two years, but he didn’t approach him. It looked like he had something important to say.   
“The meteor that hit north of here half an hour ago-!” Nobody else in the room spoke a word. Not everyone liked or respected Ging in the station but they all knew when he had something actually important to say. This was definitely one of those moments. “I was investigating the site of the crash up close right after the impact. All I can say is that this meteor is bad news. The air around it is extremely toxic! About one minute after impact I noticed that all the wildlife in a thirty meter radius was suffocating. After five minutes, it was dead. Every tree, plant, and animal.” Still nobody said a word, but the celebratory atmosphere in the station was gone. It was replaced by deep thought and worry.   
Ging continued. “Though it’s very possible that this phenomenon was due to the organisms being so close to the crash site, I say an evacuation is in order. If the toxins from the meteor keep spreading, at this rate, that entire residential area will be infected within forty minutes. Plan on evacuating the other neighborhoods nearby, too, until we can get a grasp on the situation. Since the power is out in that area, we’ll need to try contacting any cell numbers we know, and deploy some agents to make sure they evacuate quickly and efficiently. Get someone on air to announce the evacuation. Meanwhile I myself will contact a government office. Now! Get to it! We have the lives of innocent residents on our hands!”  
The station was alive again, and everyone was moving around, flipping through phone books, moving back to the studio to set up cameras, calling numbers. Beans spun around. Pariston was already being herded away to the set. Beans was startled to see his expression, which was dark and wore a shady, almost evil grin.


	4. chapter 3

Chapter 3  
Though he smiled like always, Pariston’s face had an unsettling shadowy look all during the emergency broadcast. Beans was just hanging up the phone on a resident when he ran into Ging again. Ging had a somber look across his face as he began to speak. “Beans,” he spoke softly, “You should know that this place will soon be almost as dangerous as the neighborhood we’re evacuating. I just got off the phone with a government official who informed me that some of their investigators have already fallen into toxin-induced comas due to overexposure to the air. And it would seem that the radius of dying plants and wildlife is rapidly growing. It’ll spread to here in no more than 36 hours.”  
Beans was somewhat surprised, because it seemed like Ging was showing concern for the people in the station. Usually he would look after himself and no one else. “Then… we’ll have to evacuate everyone in the station, right Ging-san?”  
“No..” Was the reply. Now Beans was confused. Did Ging care for the other workers’ lives, or not? “....Beans, I know of a fallout shelter that protects against outside poisons. It’s only big enough for two people to live in for the amount of clean air it filters.”  
Beans looked up at Ging. His face was rarely this solemn. He was serious. He wanted to live with Beans in the shelter and leave everyone else for dead. Beans couldn’t force himself to accept this. “B-but, Ging-san….. You don’t want to save the Zodiacs? Or the staff?” He respected Ging and cared about him, but he was annoyed at him. How selfish could one man be?  
“Beans, please, there’s only one way I can think of to save anyone. But it can only be two people. So I want it to be the two people closest to me.”  
Now Beans felt himself growing agitated and even almost angry. Ging was going to save himself over all these people? And he couldn’t even think of another way? “Stay here by the door while I go find Pariston.”  
Pariston? Beans, again, could feel a billion different emotions overwhelm his small body. Who exactly was Ging going to take to the shelter with him? He remembered all the things he had felt about Pariston during the evening. His hands trembled. Yet, he agreed to wait until Ging got back, and stood by the door.  
The station was still buzzing with people contacting officials and residents and checking updates on the poison radius. In several minutes Ging came walking back towards the door with Pariston by his side. Pariston had a slightly grim expression on his face. It appeared Ging had already explained the situation to him.  
“Alright, then. We’ll be going now,” Ging said in a somewhat rushed manner, “take one last look at all your coworkers while you still have the chance.” Beans took one last look at all his coworkers, his friends. He couldn’t bring himself to believe that they’d all be dead in a matter of days. Surely there wasn’t anything he and Ging could do to save them? Beans was sad, angry, and tired. Whatever was happening didn’t seem real to him.  
With that, the three quietly left the Zodiac News Network station. They crossed the parking lot to Pariston’s expensive car.  
“You drive, Pariston. I’ll give you directions. I know a route that will hopefully have less traffic. We’ll want to beat the evacuation flood, right?”  
“Right,” Pariston replied, sadly yet calmly. Sitting in the back seat, Beans couldn’t see his face. From the way he was acting, and obediently abiding by Ging’s requests, it was clear that Pariston knew more about the situation than had been explained to Beans, but he didn’t break the quiet, and vaguely grim atmosphere to ask for a clarification of the situation. Neither did he try to talk to Pariston about earlier, which he realized he had still not done. Pariston hadn’t mentioned it to Beans either. The situation would be awkward if it weren’t for the tension created by whatever it was Pariston understood that Beans didn’t.  
The road grew less and less crowded as they turned more corners, onto the backroads of Ging’s route. There was little conversation except for Ging’s directions. Finally, they pulled into an un-maintained parking lot near a low structure which Beans inferred to be the toxic fallout shelter. They got out of the car and went down a concrete staircase to a sturdy metal door. Ging swiped a keycard in a slot to the side and the door opened with a strong release of air pressure. A light came on in what appeared to be the entry way. Beans and Pariston followed and Ging hit a switch to close the door behind them. A fan in the ceiling filtered the air, and then a door opposite opened into a larger, dark room. The three went inside and Ging turned the lights on. It resembled a living room with a table and chairs to the left, and a couple couches to the right. A couple doors in the opposite metal wall seemed to lead to a bathroom and a bedroom. Fans, similar to the one in the entryway, but smaller, spotted the ceiling. Next to the door hung a rack with a few gas masks and rubber clothing. Ging went across the room to what seemed to be a storage crate, and pulled out a couple boxes of about a dozen short metal cylinders.  
“These are gas mask filters,” He explained, “there should be enough here to last two people up to a month total in the air outside. I trust that will be enough time to sort out the cause of the toxins and get rid of them.”  
There it is again, two people, Beans thought, Ging-san, can you count? There are three of us here.  
Ging continued the tour. Next, he gestured to the remaining boxes in the crate. “These food rations should last about six months. There’s more than enough.” He then proceeded to briefly tour the bathroom and bedrooms, and explained the water and air filters in the shelter. From the way he described them, it really did seem like there was only enough air for two people. Pariston hadn’t said a word since they got to the shelter. He wasn’t smiling. If anything unsettled Beans the most, it was that fact. They walked back towards the entryway.  
“I trust you two will be able to see this through,” Ging said. his voice was confident but he had a somber expression on his face. “I would inspect the meteor crash site first. Make the best use of the gas mask filters.”  
Beans was startled by a grim realization. Now that he thought of it, it seemed obvious. Ging wasn’t going to save himself. It was exactly as he said, only two people would be living in the shelter. But that would be Beans and Pariston.  
Beans could feel panic rising up in himself. “B-but!” The shock had worn off. All his friends were going to die, including Ging. “Ging-san! What about you? You can’t go out there and die!” Wait a second, Beans thought. He had a new realization. Ging could be trying to escape the city by himself and leave Beans and Pariston to clean up this mess themselves. It wouldn’t be the first time Ging disappeared, dumping his responsibilities on others. Beans was now slightly angry. He looked at Pariston, who had the same shadowy look. He said nothing. Beans sighed. “Ging-san, you should stay and help us find a way to clear the poisonous air… You can’t go out and either die or leave this situation to us. You’re smart, Ging. If anyone can save this city, it’s you! You can’t abandon it!” Beans was overwhelmed and exhausted. It was all he could to keep from tearing up or letting his voice crack. Ging looked down at him pathetically.  
Pariston sighed heavily. “You don’t get it, do you Beans? It’s…” He hesitated. This was the first time Beans had ever heard Pariston pause so depressingly while speaking. Ging interrupted, “It’s already too late for me. I was at the site of the crash already, remember? I don’t expect to live for another 24 hours. I’m sorry, Beans.” Beans felt a wave of guilt. He was right, but Beans didn’t want to accept it. He didn’t want all his friends, his family, to die in order for him to live. He thought about protesting, about telling Ging to stay in the shelter with Pariston as he went out and died instead. But there was no arguing with Ging once he made up his mind. Beans let a single tear roll down his face. There was nothing he could do.  
Ging took a deep breath and put his hand on Pariston’s shoulder and put the key-card to the shelter in his hand. Neither of them looked at each other. Ging looked at the door. “I’ll be going now. Don’t cry for me,” He said to Beans,” That’s embarrassing. Don’t come looking for my body, either... Good luck.” They kept both doors of the entryway open as they watched Ging walk through the light from the shelter, up the stairs, and disappear into the dark parking lot. Nobody spoke a word, and Ging never turned back.


End file.
